Nigeria has over 133 million people living in multidimensional poverty, yet the country spends less than 0.2% of its GDP on research and development. While the world advances in AI and blockchain, Nigeria risks being left behind not because of a lack of talent, but because of under-investment in technologies that could solve its biggest challenges.
Nigeria is faced with lots of regulatory uncertainty and a lack of national strategy; we have no clear national AI strategy or blockchain development policy, and the ban on crypto trading in 2021 created a climate of mistrust for blockchain startups.
Most government agencies are slow to understand or even pilot emerging technologies; they often react defensively instead of enabling experimentation. There’s also a low public awareness and trust where many Nigerians see AI and blockchain as “Western tech” with no real local benefit, and this leads to low digital trust due to scams and misinformation, especially around blockchain or AI-generated content.
According to the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), 95% of technology used across sectors is imported, reflecting minimal local innovation or production. Running AI systems requires GPUs, cloud servers and most of which must be imported at high cost. Even renewable energy solutions (e.g. solar-powered AI farms or blockchain nodes) face regulatory and import barriers. Import duties, FX challenges, and poor logistics make emerging tech expensive to deploy locally.
Over the past two years, I’ve mentored junior developers and observed a shift in their interest toward AI and blockchain. But they’re experimenting in isolation, with no community R&D culture or policy frameworks guiding them, which needs to change. Most of the AI talent I’ve interacted with locally is self-taught and working on passion projects with zero institutional support. There’s a hunger to build, but no funding, no labs, and no reliable infrastructure to experiment at scale.
To address the issue of regulatory uncertainty, Nigeria must establish a national emerging technology policy framework that outlines a clear, multi-sector strategy, including priorities, guidelines, and goals for AI, blockchain, and related fields. This approach is similar to the AI strategies adopted by Rwanda and the UAE. The federal government can also create regulatory sandboxes for emerging tech startups where they’re allowed to test blockchain or AI products under monitored, flexible conditions like CBN did for fintech, reducing risk while encouraging innovation.
A practical solution to the issue of low public awareness is the use of pilot projects to build trust. The government can fund public sector blockchain or AI pilots in high-impact areas like food supply chains, electricity monitoring, or education record verification, to show benefits, and not bunk. The federal government can also involve citizens in policy development, create open town halls, surveys, and citizen panels when drafting emerging tech laws, to give people a voice and counter distrust.
One proven approach to solving the issue of a lack of academic industry collaboration is a funded applied R&D partnership between universities and tech hubs, where a government-backed grant is created for universities to collaborate with private startups or innovation labs on real-world tech problems. From my experience in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, many startups are eager to experiment with AI or blockchain but lack the deep research support or infrastructure that academic institutions can provide. Conversely, many university departments have capable researchers and students who rarely get the opportunity to apply their work outside the classroom. Connecting both through structured, funded programs would not only accelerate innovation but also build a new generation of industry-ready tech talent.
Nigeria has no shortage of talent or ambition; what we need now is intentionality. Emerging technologies offer us the chance to leap beyond legacy systems and design solutions truly made for our unique context. But this opportunity will slip away unless we act deliberately. We must build policies that unlock innovation, fund research that addresses local needs, and foster public understanding of these tools. The future of Nigeria’s economy won’t be written in oil barrels, but in code, data, and ideas.
If we invest now in people, infrastructure, and strategy, we can turn potential into progress. But if we wait, we risk becoming consumers of technology instead of creators. The choice is ours.
Tochukwu is a tech enthusiast
